Diary of an Arcade Employee

Retroist.com Junkbox: Going Back To Cali

Hey kids. Your boy IseeRobots here again, feels like I was just here the other day. Man, the Retroist Junk Box is on the move! Ok, so let’s see, last we heard the box was Caught Between The Moon And New York City. What does that even mean? I don’t even know. Nothing important I’m sure. You can stick it Christopher Cross. My parents played your music way too much in the old Station Wagon. Can’t even stand to hear it anymore, Sailing is a pretty tight tune though. Perfect for when you’re crying out Serenity Now! Like a Seinfeld rerun.

Anyhow, this week the box came back to my sweet home state, California! Yep, just like LL Cool J and later Biggie Smalls, it’s Going Back To Cali. More exactly it’s leaping into the waiting arms of Retroist.com’s own Doug McCoy. Yep, pretty cool right.

I know Doug is gonna come correct. He’s aware of The Famous East Coast/West Coast Retro Beef. We can’t let those New York crumb bums outshine the West! With that said and the importance of the fact known let’s take a look at the pics Doug sent our way.

First one is of the box in its current state. Here we go…

Yikes! Kinda’ bloated huh? Na, that’s a bad way to put it. Let’s say IT’S PACKED TO THE GILLS WITH RETRO TREASURES! That sounds a bit better but I prolly shouldn’t have yelled. Sorry. I get excited sometimes.

Ok, let’s see what Doug removed from the box.

What figure is that? Lobot? I think so, who is the other fella though? There is some cool stuff here. I dig that book, I think I said that before. 1983 was a great year for TV Superstars! Is that Pac-Man soft? Like a stress ball? Cool beans. Let’s move on to what Doug donated to the cause…

Before we get started I want to mention that everything that our kid gave up was something near and dear to his heart. So if you count in the sentimental value of the gifts we’re talking THOUSANDS of dollars in Retro Value and with inflation that’s MILLIONS in today’s coin.

It’s all cool man, I LOVE that Swatch Cover and The Mad Ball, it’s a Mad Ball right? how about that Ed Emberley book? Ed taught me to draw just about everything that I can still draw today. Thanks to him I can throw down a mean helicopter sketch.

What is that grey thing in the wrapper? A cereal premium of some sort? Hmm, any answers Doug? Fools need to know. Oh, check out that comic. I totally used to read Star Brand. I was really in to Marvel’s New Universe. In retrospect I’m not sure why. DP7 was my fave. Doug you really came correct. Take that East Coast! Beef settled. We win. Thanks Doug, You did good my man. Take a bow.

So as the Junk Box reaches its last few stops I want to let everyone who participated know that it’s been fun (if not exhausting) to handle all of this for you guys. A real pleasure.

Overall it’s been cool experiment in honesty and I want to say for the record that everyone involved is pretty darn honest. There wasn’t a moment where I felt anything was going to happen except what was supposed to happen. Retroist.com is full of stand up kids man.

If you got a minute or so pop on over to Facebook and give your boy, Iseerobots, a big thumbs up. It’s the gift that keeps on giving and you won’t be sorry for long.